After a bloc of four conservative "Big Beautiful Bill" holdouts finally voted late on Saturday night to move the legislation in a direction towards final passage, they claimed that negotiations with Republican leaders surrounding deficit reduction and Medicaid changes helped them feel "more comfortable" with its advancement.
"It was a beautiful night for the Big Beautiful Bill," Sen. Eric Schmitt, a key negotiator during meetings on Saturday, said after the vote.
Still, Sens. Ron Johnson -- who flipped his vote, Rick Scott, Cynthia Lummis and Mike Lee did not tell reporters whether they'd support the final bill, even after huddling with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Vice President J.D. Vance, Majority Whip John Barrasso and some others during the over three hour vote.
Most of the four conservatives were tight-lipped about their negotiations with leadership after voting, but Johnson said that they were promised a vote on an amendment that would lower the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage match provided to able-bodied, childless people who are new enrollees to Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.
"We want to preserve Medicaid for disabled children," Johnson said. "I never had a problem with the House bill in terms of avoiding a massive tax increase, default funding for the border, for defense, the spending reductions they did get. My big beef there is…again, we still have to do so much more, because it's hard, okay, because it's such an enormous mess," he added, blaming years of Democratic policies like Obamacare.
Johnson said that the promised amendment was Scott's idea.
Lummis and Lee said that talks over their concerns about further deficit reductions and tax cuts help them get to a "yes" vote.
"We had an internal discussion about a strategy to achieve more savings, more deficit reduction," Lee said after the vote, adding that he's "more comfortable" now with the bill.
All agreed on the need for "as many tax cuts" and "as much spending clarity" as possible, Lummis said.
"I want to thank Vice President Vance for coming up and President Trump for his help in getting to yes, and we've got a good product, and we're going to promote it and pass it this week," she said.
